Effective Writing

Purpose

Anything you write should be understandable in a single rapid reading and generally free of spelling and grammatical errors. These writing tips will provide you with basic information on how to write effectively.

Effective writing transmits a clear, concise message that is easily understood, well organised and to the point. Most audiences will understand what message you are trying to convey without difficulty of interpretation.

General writing tips

Write because you have to. If you can accomplish your purpose with a telephone call or face-to-face, do so. Otherwise, make sure you state the facts briefly and to the point.

Make sure you have a clear, defined purpose for your writing. You will have three critical tasks in writing:

• to inform or direct
• to persuade
• to assess the writing of others

Write so the average reader understands. Tell the audience what they need to know and why. Your main goal is to communicate accurately.

Write not to impress but to express your ideas.

Write the way you speak. Be personal and don't hide behind the bureaucratic mask. If you write for someone (speech/ presentation), try to adopt his/her voice or tone.

Substitute short words for long ones.

Weak words	initiate, terminate, utilise, optimal
Better	start, end, use, best

Use short, conversational words. Words with three or more syllables are usually cumbersome and misunderstood. Avoid jargon, technical terms and legalisms. Jargon is defined as the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of specialists or workers in a particular activity or area of knowledge; often pretentious or unnecessarily vague and obscure terminology. When writing, the use of jargon is often unavoidable; however, those terms can be easily identified by a brief explanation.

Weak	Attached herewith is the report.
Better	Here is the report.

Don't waste your reader's time. Write short sentences, usually 15-20 words, and limit paragraphs to four or five sentences.

Weak	Long sentences often obscure the meaning of the writer and shouldn't be used if clarity is the intention.
Better	Use short sentences to improve clarity.

State your main message in the first sentence. Discuss the detail in the sentences to follow. Make sure your reader knows what your writing is about. Next follow with your purpose, discussion, and conclusions.

Use active voice and not passive voice. Active voice is most effective because it is more direct; someone or something is responsible for the action, and the action is stated in fewer words.

Passive voice (poor)	All technical documents will be reviewed in final draft by program managers.
Active voice (good)	Program managers will review all technical documents in final draft.

Use standard punctuation, spelling and grammar. Above all, make sure your writing is neat and legible.

Maintain a consistent point of view by continuing to use one subject; and one tense, mood, and voice in verbs. Sudden shifts in any of these elements tend to obscure meaning and make reading difficult.

Use personal pronouns.

Weak	The undersigned requests that your office submit the report to this office.
Better	Please send us the report.

Use proper contractions to avoid wordiness. Improper use of contractions can be confusing [who've (who have), where've (where have), who're (who are)].

Weak	It is incumbent upon personnel at all echelons to conserve energy.
Better	It's everybody's job to save energy.

Don't be repetitious just for the sake of sounding more important. You avoid getting to the point.

Weak	The project's importance and significance.
Better	The project's importance.

Weak	Exceptional, exemplary performance.
Better	Exemplary performance.

Avoid starting sentences with "It is," "There is," and "There are."

Weak	It is necessary for you to prepare the report.
Better	You must prepare the report.

Weak	There are two alternatives mentioned in the report.
Better	The report mentions two alternatives.

Avoid "that" and "which." (Use "that" when introducing a restrictive clause. Use "which" when referring to things or ideas.)

Weak	I think that the change which they want will cost too much.
Better	I think the change they want will cost too much.

Weak	We must replace any equipment that is unreliable.
Better	We must replace any unreliable equipment.

Don't Use Nominals. Nominals are noun forms of verbs. For clearer writing, try to use the verb form of the noun.

Weak	You must make arrangements to see him.
Better	You must make arrangements to see him.

Weak	They held a meeting.
Better	They met.

Rely on active verbs in the present tense, and avoid "will," "will be," and "must be."

Weak	All safes will be checked. The duty officer will spin each safe's dial as part of the inspection.
Better	Check all safes. Spin each safe's dial when you inspect it.

Elements of commnication

There are four elements of communication:

1. Substance - ideas you want to convey.
2. Organisation - arrangements of parts.
3. Style - how well you understand and how quickly you understand.
4. Correctness - free of grammar, spelling, and usage errors.

Audience Analysis

Before you start writing, you need to consider your audience; who will be reading this document? Analyze your audience by preparing an audience profile. Consider:

• Responsibilities of our audience.
• Purpose in audience consulting your work.
• Audience point of view.
• Audience education/technical training.
• Audience experience.

There are four types of audiences:

• General. A nonspecific reader; has no technical experience in this area; reads to be informed, persuaded, entertained, etc.
• Decision Maker. Most demanding and important audience; deals with costs, personnel, productivity, programs, customers, contracts, etc.; will want "bottom line" information and conclusions.
• Operator. Usually a graduate of vocational and/or technical schools; experience level may vary; manufacture products or install, use, maintain, and/or repair equipment; want a "how-to" or "step-by-step" procedure.
• Expert. Has formal education and background; familiar with the area and procedures; you must have adequate data to support your ideas; very knowledgeable of materials and sources.

Bottom Line.

Do not have more than three choices, or three questions or ideas.
If you have too many ideas, your audience will get bored and lose interest. The audience may not think your work is too difficult to get through and ignore it.

Six-step writing process

1. Research

Start with mind mapping or brainstorming. This lets the creative part of your brain work before the ordered part puts the ideas together. Capture what you know about your subject.
Mind mapping Process. This helps determine your purpose and narrow down your ideas:

• Write topic.
• Write down all ideas that come to you about topic.
• Determine aim or focus of paper.
• Determine your intended audience.
• Cross out extraneous ideas that do not relate to your purpose or audience.
• Group remaining ideas.
• Eliminate any group or idea that does not support your purpose.
• Assign headings (subtopics) to each group.
• Prepare an outline.

2. Planning

There are three parts to planning:

1. Introduction.
2. Development.
3. Conclusion.

Begin by forming an outline from your mind mapping. Organise the known information into major parts and organize the groups internally.

Establish your controlling idea/bottom line. This will help you organise the major groups and check to make sure you have adequate information to support your bottom line.

Establishing your bottom line will vary depending on the organizational style you choose to develop your idea. A decision paper will need a bottom line that announces or takes a position on a topic. An information paper will provide facts. The information must serve a purpose, and the bottom line has to be the purpose of the paper. Make sure your bottom is relevant to the purpose of your paper and to your audience. Make sure the content focused on a single ideal; is it clear? Make sure your information adequately supports your bottom line.

Make sure you define the major parts of your groups more precisely and focus on each group, one at a time. You will develop subordinate controlling ideas relating to each major part.

Select the sequence of parts to be more effective. Choose a developmental style that will support your bottom line.

• Time - chronological order.
• Space - spatial order.
• General to Particular - discuss general idea first and then break down into particular example(s).
• Particular to General - discuss particular example(s) first and then discuss the overall general idea last.
• Comparison/Contrast - discuss all advantages and disadvantages of your choices.
• Analysis - break down into parts.
• Cause and Effect - what will the consequences be of an action.
• Detail/Example - use examples for support of bottom line.
• Definition - explain an abstract concept (not a dictionary definition).

Check for final consistency between:

• Bottom line and purpose.
• Bottom line and audience.
• Bottom line and major parts.
• Major parts and minor parts.
• Form and Sequence Minor Parts - Need to sequence minor parts in the base to support the major parts.

Along each pathway from bottom line to major part to subordinate part, you must have a credibility point. Your reader must see the relevance of this point and how it supports your bottom line.

3. Outline

You have your plan for how you want to proceed with your paper, you have a bottom line and you have your major parts. Now you must organise these parts into an outline. You are still developing and refining your ideas at this stage.

1. Introduction.
   1. Attention Step or Context (when necessary). 2 and 3 may be reversed.
   2. Bottom Line.
   3. List of Major Parts.
2. Development.
   1. Major Part No. 1. If you list the major parts in your Introduction, use:
      1. Minor Part 1. The same sequence here.
      2. Minor Part 2.
   2. Major Part No. 2.
      1. Minor Part 1.
      2. Minor Part 2.
3. Conclusion.
   1. Restate Major Parts (Sequence as appropriate)
   2. Restate Bottom line.
   3. Attention Step or Context (when necessary)

4. Draft

Just start writing everything you have to say. Focus on substance and organization. Draft Quickly. Don't worry about the perfect work or phrasing; that will slow down your creative process. Use your outline as a roadmap to keep you on course with your bottom line.

• Choose the best format. Packaging and organizing are very important to writing. Certain papers will require specific formats: Memorandums, Information Papers, Fact Sheets, Decision Papers, etc.
• Make your packaging easy to read and follow. The format needs to be easy on the reader's eye. White space is very important in packaging. Use headings, tables, indentions, underlining, highlighting, bold print, capital letters, italic print, color, columns, etc., in packaging.

5. Revise

This step is difficult especially when you are the author. You are prejudiced because you have an already-present knowledge of what you intend to say. Your drafting stage is much easier because you do not have to worry about style and correctness. In revising, you try to see your material from your reader's point of view. You need to see your material from the perspective of who will read it.

Check your substance, organization, style, and correctness; is your document relevant, focused, and adequately supported.

Follow this checklist to make sure substance and organization go together:

• Introduction - states bottom line; sets stage before bottom line; announces the major parts.
• Development - bottom line analysed; major parts defined and concise (not too many and not too few); sequenced for best effect; major parts properly analysed; evidence detailed and convincing; useful transitions and summaries.
• Conclusion - returns to bottom line; summarises major parts.

Make sure your style of writing is effective. Work on style before correctness because style can affect the meaning of your work more than correctness errors. Make sure your style of writing follows the basic steps in structure:

Bottom line - purpose of paper.

• Unity - reader must be able to see the connection between the information in the body of your work and your bottom line.
• Coherence - information must follow an orderly sequence.
• Paragraph Coherence - every paragraph should focus on a single, controlling idea.
• Sentence Coherence - every sentence should focus on a single, controlling idea.
• Emphasis - stressing key parts to stand out or take on special importance allows the reader to grasp ideas in order of importance.
• Adequate Development - did you adequately support your bottom line; have you persuaded your reader.
• Conclusion - go back to bottom line; make sure you have followed your bottom line and all controlling ideas.

6. Proof

You must check and mark your final copy. Always have someone else do the final editing of your work.

See also…

Activing listening: A good active listener will broaden his or her knowledge through relating to others, build motivated and responsible teams, and create an environment where new ideas can flourish and take flight.
Image management: Managing your personal image can increase the confidence people place in you and the career opportunities that come to you.
Managing perceptions: In senior management roles it becomes increasingly important to be able to understand and manage the perception others have of us.
Your Values: Values are about worth. They are the principles, standards and beliefs you are committed to and live your life by. You feel unhappy and dissatisfied when your values are compromised.

External Links

Based on Effective Writing Tips published by the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine